Lonely Miracle
by Cheloya
Summary: What happened to Yuffie and Vincent at the conclusion of the game? Yuffentine. Finally Complete.
1. The Beginning or the End?

Disclaimer:  I don't own anything from FFVII, just this idea… which has probably already been done, but that is beside the point.

A/N: There comes a time in every author's life where she is overcome by an urge to write inane fluff. This particular author is obviously very weak-willed, as she has given into the temptation, oh, a hundred times or more. *grin* Pretty pointless Yuffentine, here. But it does examine His Ellipsis-ness's past. Whee!

**Lonely Miracle**

The Beginning or the End? 

Yuffie waved her arms and shouted as loudly as she could, but it was no use. Through the green mako mist and the rumbling of the Lifestream, there was no way the rest of AVALANCHE could hear her, nor see clearly enough to notice her. Even she could barely see them. She swore loudly, throwing down her Conformer in disgust, and instantly regretting this as it disappeared into the Lifestream with a hiss and a gurgle.

"Dammit! No! We just beat Sephiroth! I can't die like this!"

"There is no point trying to fight it, Yuffie. They cannot hear you."

The ninja turned to her normally silent companion, tears of rage filling her eyes. Of all the people she had to get stuck with in a situation like this, it had to be one who was completely resigned to death, and prepared to welcome it with open arms. "No, Vincent, _no_. I refuse to go out like this. I won't… I can't do it! It's just too damn unfair." She stomped her foot angrily, a child throwing her last tantrum. The Planet roared again and she covered her head with a frightened cry as rock, ice, and the Highwind rained down from above. She ran the few steps to where Vincent stood and pressed her back to the cliff face.

"Not all things end the way you want them to." Vincent remarked. His red eyes were narrowed slightly, just to shield them from the dust. Yuffie thought he looked a little sadder than usual, weighed down by death despite his aloof words.

"Nothing has ever ended the way I wanted it to." She said coldly, insulted by the insinuation even as she huddled closer to him for added protection. "Not even a damn cartoon." She let out a sound of horror as the rock she stood on began to crack and slide away. "Oh Leviathan!"

Vincent caught her with his claw and held her in front of him, turning away from the falling debris and hunching his shoulders to try and shield her as well as he could. The Highwind roared to life and made a miraculous and explosive reverse out of the crater. Its fractured hull split with a shriek of rent steel, swallowing Yuffie's cry of despair as it disappeared through the mist. She slumped, hopeless.

"…how could they just leave us here?" She mumbled brokenly. "How could they just leave us here to die…?"

Vincent had no comforting words for her. "They believed we were dead, so they stopped searching." His throat tightened. _Just as I did._ Yuffie had obviously heard the same thing in his words, for she looked at him.

"Maybe… maybe you'll be with her now… Lucrecia…" There was a slight pause as she considered something else. "…maybe I'll get to see mama again… even though there is no Promised Land, really…" She scowled. "Damn Shinra. They ruin everything."

Vincent chuckled. As the rocks beneath their feet began to crack and crumble, he bent slightly to kiss her hair. "Farewell, brave ninja."

Yuffie shifted nervously as the warm green Lifestream lapped at her ankles. A great shuddering roar arose from the Planet. She squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the end to come. "Could you at least call me by my name before we both die in this hell hole, Vincent Valentine? No one seems to call me my name. Ever. It's always been 'kid', or 'brat' or 'my child'. And while yours is a lot nicer than all of those… I like my name a lot better." Ropes of green began to twine up towards the darkened sky as she watched, petrified.

"..goodbye, Yuffie. It was pleasant knowing you." The Lifestream was hungrily devouring her, lapping already at her shoulders.

"Don't lie. You're desperately in love with me, you know it. It's been pure ecstasy, every single moment of it." She rebuked him, a lame joker to the last. When he didn't respond, she held her face up out of the Lifestream. "It was real good to know you, too, Vincent."

He lifted her so that she was his height, not wanting her to die before he did. But the rock shelf collapsed entirely and they disappeared beneath the gentle undertow as the Lifestream surged upward.

~*~

A/N: Well, there you have it. It's entirely plausible, too. =P I mean, did you see Yuffie and Vinnie _anywhere_ at the end there? Nope. Didn't think so. ^^


	2. The Perfect Soldier

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuffie, Vincent, or anything else from Final Fantasy VII. (You would have thought by this point that I'd give up on disclaimers and just buy the rights.)

Actually, that's a good idea! ^^ To support Raven in her quest to buy FFVII rights… leave a review and I'll get back to you. :)

Lonely Miracle The Perfect Soldier 

_Drip. Drip._

She was cold. Yuffie shivered and curled herself into a tighter ball, wishing Cloud could have found them a nicer place to camp. They could have gone back to the Highwind, couldn't they?

_Drip.__ Drip. Drip._

She frowned as the obnoxious sound worked its way into her mind's crevices. She hadn't heard that sound in the north crater. It was just too cold for water to be dripping. Maybe it was blood. Yeah, that was it… Sephiroth's blood, dripping from her Conformer… Yuffie's eyes snapped open to darkness. Sephiroth was dead. He had to be – she couldn't have imagined that battle. But then… she gulped. That horrible dream about being abandoned to die in the Lifestream… it couldn't be real… could it? She sat up cautiously. She still couldn't see a thing.

_Drip._

That sound… where was it coming from? She didn't understand what this place was. Was this the Lifestream? Was this… the Promised Land? It certainly didn't _look_ very promising. Unless it was supposed to promise boredom, of course. Yuffie looked around ineffectually.

"Hello?"

She clambered to her feet, feeling around her uncertainly. The ground didn't seem to have any texture, but she couldn't say that it was smooth, either. It was just… indistinct, as though it weren't really there at all. Yuffie gulped and tried to believe very hard that there was ground under her feet. Obediently, the ground hardened and took on a form she knew well – the moist earth of her home town.

She looked up in surprise. There, before her, was Da Chao in all its glory. She stared around her, bewildered, at Wutai. Was this a dream, that all this had appeared so suddenly and yet so naturally around her? It was just as though it had always been there, though Yuffie knew it had not. She began to be frightened.

"Hello? Hey! Who's doing this?" She called. There was no answer. She began to walk through the village, looking about her in confusion. This wasn't the Wutai _she_ remembered… everything looked newer, yet more worn down. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she rounded a corner and saw children playing there.

Three boys were using sticks they had found to play at sword fighting, while the girls cheered them on or ignored them entirely. Two of the boys uttered war-cries as they charged the third, who dodged their attack and then leaped over their heads. Two of the girls broke into applause at the boy's acrobatics. Yuffie studied him closely. His black hair was at the same time neatly clipped, but messy. She stared as he threw out his left arm, which held his stick, and ran forward to strike at the other two boys with a loud cry. "Hyeeaaargh!"

They fell backward into the dirt and started laughing despite themselves. The winner flopped down in the dirt and laughed, too. One of the girls approached.

"Mama says you should go with the Shinra." She said. Yuffie recognised the intonation and gasped in shock – it was Chekhov!

"I don't want to." The boy said defiantly. "Does your mama say that she should go, too?" He pointed to another girl, obviously Chekhov's sister. Chekhov looked abashed, but continued on stubbornly.

"Mama says that it's you they really want. She says that's why they started the war, and that's why Daddy isn't coming back." She said. Yuffie crouched next to them all.

"You mean the Wutai War? Wutai against the Shinra army?" She asked, curious. What was she doing _here_? The children ignored her. Annoyed, she pushed Chekhov. "Hey! I'm—whoa..." She stared as her hand went right through the little girl's torso. "Gah!" She scrambled backward frantically and stared at her hand. What was going on here?

"My mama says that it's 'cause you fight so good. She says that's why they want you." Another boy chimed in. "Those blue suits who came before the war told the Shinra about you, she says."

The boy who could fight looked down. "It's not my fault I can fight…"

"But it's your fault you stay here instead of going to the Shinra, Vincent. My papa says that that's why they took your mama away."

Yuffie stared at the good fighter in shock. This was _Vincent?_ Then this couldn't possibly be the Wutai War! It was just too long ago. He was looking angry now, but the sadness that she had gotten so used to seeing on him was there, too. The other children, seeming to realise they had gone too far, ran off. Chekhov's sister glared at him as she passed, and kicked dirt on him.

"She wouldn't have gone if it weren't for you." She said cruelly. "And they never would've come for me if they hadn't heard of you, first." She ran away. Vincent looked down at his feet, black hair falling forward to cover his eyes.

"…my papa says that, too…"

Yuffie reached out to touch the small Vincent's shoulder, forgetting that she couldn't touch him. He winked out of existence as soon as she brushed him, along with the rest of Wutai. She was left in darkness once more.

_Drip._

"Not that again…" Yuffie spun, trying to find a way out of whatever weird place this was. She started to run and shrieked to find the younger Vincent in front of her. He looked pale and washed out, not only in his face, but in the clothes he wore and in his hair and eyes. It was as though he was a ghost. Yuffie gaped at him for a few seconds before she summoned enough courage to stammer out, "W-what do you want?"

Great dark eyes stared up at her pitifully. His mouth moved, but only the barest of sounds made it to her. "…_help…_"

"What?" She stared at him. "What do you need help with?"

Vincent shook his head. "_…have to help him…_"

"Help who? What are you talking about, Vincent?" Yuffie dropped down to be on a level with the child version of Vincent Valentine.

He was flickering, fading, vanishing before her eyes. She reached out to grab him, to keep him there with her, but he was already gone, leaving only a whisper.

"_…the memories are all he has… he believes them… help him…_"

Yuffie stared at the patch of darkness the child Vincent had been for a long time. Slowly she sank to the ground and sat with her knees curled up to her chest. She didn't know what to do. How could she help Vincent? What was she supposed to do? The man was a walking, guilty angst-muffin. That and the fact she hadn't even seen him yet, except as a child. She looked around herself sadly, thinking back over the dream-like vision she had seen. So, Vincent was from Wutai. That explained a lot. He was from the same era as her father, one much more bound by duty, honour and tradition. Sure, Wutai was still that way, but she sort of ignored it as much as she could. Vincent's upbringing would have been even stricter than hers, which explained why he was so quiet, and why he was such a stickler for rules, morals and honour. She grimaced. She bet he _definitely_ hadn't wanted to get dragged back to Wutai, let alone to be stolen from when he got there. She still felt ashamed that AVALANCHE had taken the time to help her, and then accepted her back into their midst, even though she had more or less proven herself unworthy of their trust. But, she supposed, she had proved herself in the end. She had been determined to be worthy of their trust because she hated being in debt to people. That was why she had stolen materia in the first place – to get out of her father's debt.

She wondered if what she had seen was true. Certainly, Shinra had waged a war against Wutai, but it was ridiculous to say that they would do it on account of Vincent. She frowned. _I bet Shinra just wanted some of our top fighters because they couldn't expand far enough without us. We've always had some of the best warriors in the world, along with __Cosmo__Canyon__. That's why they moved so fast to get us on their side… even though taking away children was definitely not the best way to bind a country to them._ The Wutai War had been a rebellion against the Shinra - that she knew. Before that… well, who knew? All the great fighters who really knew the history of Wutai had been wiped out in the Wutai War. Sure, they had their own records, but most of the really old ones had gone to the Shinra. She scowled. _The Shinra probably got the weak people of the village to raise their children believing that the way of the Shinra was right. Scum._

She got to her feet again and started walking in the hope that another vision would rise. She had to get to the bottom of this. It was probably the only way she was going to get out of this blackness. But what about Vincent? Where was he? She frowned again, wondering how she was supposed to help him when she didn't even know where he was.

"Vincent? Vincent…! Hey, Vincent, where are you…?"

She started running in the darkness, marvelling at how smooth and easy it was. It was as though she didn't even have to breathe. She had always dreamed of being able to run like this, without exhaustion, without any sort of fatigue. Filled with new determination, she ran faster and faster.

"Vincent! I'm coming to find you! Ready or not, here I come…!"

~*~

A/N: Well, isn't this fun? Let's all run around in darkness. Honestly, I'd be crawling. ^^; 'Cause it's real humiliating to trip over something while you're running.

Do remember to review to support my campaign to buy FFVII rights! That way we all get… more Vinnie! More Yuffie!

*stares at ringing phone and picks it up* *winces* *puts it down*

Yes. And more Sephiroth. Of course. ^^;h


	3. The Company That Cares

Disclaimer: Don't own Yuffie, Vincent or Shinra. I do own this particular version of Vincent's background and Ryyu. (Pronounced _Ree-oo, or, if you're good with Japanese pronunciation, _Ri_u.)_

A/N: Yes, I am evil. You're gonna have to read "Faith and Feather" to get the full story on Vincent's past. However, that said… in F&F, this never happened. Kinda weird. ^^;

Lonely Miracle

**The Company That Cares**

Almost immediately, Yuffie's surroundings rippled from blackness into a chilly office building. Yuffie could almost feel the dread in the air. She could have reached out and touched it. It was an ordinary enough workplace, she supposed. Yet she had to stifle a shiver at what she saw before her.

Four teenagers in old fashioned navy blue suits stood to attention in the middle of the room, lined up in front of a young man in a red suit. Behind Red-Suit stood several men with semi-automatics. Yuffie recognised them as members of SOLDIER. She sidled around so she could see the faces of the teenagers, though she had a feeling she already knew… yes.

Vincent, face still and serious, eyes an amazing shade of blue, stood at the end of the row. If Yuffie hadn't known better, she would have thought he was bored. She looked around, wondering if the dirt-kicking child was here, for surely this was Shinra HQ.

"I never saw Ryyu again. I… don't know what happened to her, except that we were both taken by the Shinra." The voice spoke from behind her so that she jumped. The Vincent she knew was there, as solid as she was. Yuffie made towards him, happy he was here, but he walked away from her and vanished.

"Vincent? Wait…" Yuffie sighed and turned back to the office scene. Red-Suit was saying something. Three of the teenagers saluted. Vincent just stared.

Red-Suit glared at Vincent and pushed his shoulder angrily. Vincent just gave the man a withering look. It was a mistake. The older man drew back a fist and punched the clearly surprised Vincent in the nose, making Yuffie yell in surprise and disgust. She started forward, a dangerous gleam in her eyes, before she realised she couldn't hurt Red-Suit, nor could she prevent any of Vincent's past from occurring. She watched in furious horror as Red-Suit knocked Vincent to the ground and kicked him until he stopped moving. The image dissolved.

Yuffie kicked at the indistinct blackness. "How dare they?! How could anyone do that?!" She yelled. "Vincent, where are you? Come back!" Almost obediently, a ghostly teenage Vincent appeared. Yuffie strode up to him. "Why didn't you get him back? That bastard!"

Teenage Vincent smiled. He was just a little taller than she was. The effect of that innocent, unknowing smile was not lost on her; it made her gasp and fall silent while she concentrated on restoring the strength to her knees. "I couldn't remember anything before that day at Shinra. I couldn't even understand the Midgarian that Shinra himself spoke. It took me ten years to learn to speak as he does now."

"So… what happened to the time between then and… then?"

Vincent shrugged. "I don't know. All I knew then and all he knows now is that Mother is dead, and it is his fault for resisting the Shinra."

"What?! But it- hey! Hey, no, don't fade…"

_"It's all right. Don't cry. You can find him."_

"I'm not crying!" Yuffie protested aloud, and wiped her eyes in surprise. She _was crying. But why? She felt suddenly unbearably sad._

"Vincent… don't leave me here…"

_Drip._

"…I'm all alone…"

~*~

A/N: I'd just like to thank all of my reviewers. ^^ My creativity gets sapped fast, I'm afraid, and your reviews really keep me going. Sorry for the short chapter – the next one's much longer!

And InsanityLaughsAtYou… I'll really continue lots faster if you send me your Chaos plushie! ^_^ I'd just love one of those things.

I also want a Vinnie statuette. I should have a PayPal account for people to pay me if they want to. ^^


	4. Broken Roses

Disclaimer: Don't own any characters from FFVII.

Lonely Miracle

**Broken Roses**

She had been walking, crying, for what seemed like hours. She couldn't stop. It was as though the sadness had settled permanently in her heart. She wasn't even crying for _herself_, which was the strangest thing. She was crying for Vincent.

"Please stop."

Yuffie looked up to see Vincent. Just the sight of him caused her tears to begin anew. What more had this man been through? "I- I can't."

"…I hear that sound in my nightmares." Vincent said, as though he hadn't heard her. "…here is where they truly began…" He raised his arms, and before them appeared Nibelheim. Its denizens peeked from doors and windows to glimpse the Shinra arriving in town. Yuffie wiped her eyes and hugged herself loosely to stifle further weeping.

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know your past." She said quietly. Vincent fixed her with an intense gaze.

"I won't have you trapped here on account of me."

He vanished.

Yuffie trailed after the Shinra scientists for a few steps through the town square and then turned at muttered cursing. _Oh, no way is Cid here…_ She blinked at a quite frankly stunning man with messy-yet-neat black hair. His blue eyes were narrowed with annoyance as he juggled various no doubt fragile scientific instruments and a suitcase of his own. Yuffie almost laughed at Vincent Valentine, who looked so incredibly, amazingly different to how he did these days. She skipped around the unseeing Turk all the way up the incline to the Shinra mansion. The men at the gate saw Vincent through with amused looks and muffled sniggers behind his back. Yuffie rolled her eyes. _Like Vinnie couldn't hear them a mile away!_ She waved her hands through their bodies to show her disdain. She followed Vincent to the door, almost wishing she was a real part of this memory, if only to save the poor guy the trouble of trying to knock on the door without dropping his load. She winced as he nearly dropped half of it, saving an important-looking machine only by slamming his shoulder and hip into the wall beside him. Vincent swore and settled for kicking at the door impatiently. This time, Yuffie did laugh.

"Whoa, Vinnie, you sure have changed." She said cheerfully to nothing at all, wondering if the present day Vincent was listening. The Turk kicked the door again.

It opened after a minute and Yuffie's eyes widened at a beautiful ashen-haired woman in a white lab coat. She was staring at Vincent as though mesmerised, her strange but beautiful violet eyes lost in his. Yuffie was seized by an urge to smash that beautiful face in. She knew what was coming, now.

The woman blinked and looked past Vincent, looking flustered. "Can I help you?" She inquired. Vincent shook his head to clear it, a slight blush coming to his cheeks.

"I'm Vincent… the Turk leader. I've been assigned to keep you safe in Nibelheim." He tried to extend a hand to her and nearly dropped everything again. He looked wretchedly embarrassed even as he struggled to cover it. "For the duration of the Jenova Project." He added.

"I am Lucrecia Hojo… Let me take those. You might break them." With a warm smile, she took them carefully from his arms. "Follow me."

The scene faded, but Vincent remained, his Turks suit bleeding into his normal clothing. "She was the most beautiful, perfect person I have ever known." He murmured softly. "At that time, I didn't know exactly what the Jenova Project consisted of… when I found out, I tried to stop her from going through with it, but I couldn't convince her."

"She… she was married when you met her? To Hojo?" Yuffie asked, disapproval making her voice harsher than it needed to be. Vincent stared at her.

"I never thought of you as having a keen sense of honour," He commented, not unkindly, but Yuffie's eyes narrowed. "She was. As a Turk, I was beyond caring about illicit activities. It was wrong, but…"

"But you hated Hojo, so it was all okay." Yuffie completed his sentence flatly. Vincent made a sound of protest.

"_No." He said. "I loved her – that she was married meant nothing to my heart, for all that it discouraged my mind. I grew to hate Hojo, but…"_

Yuffie was unconvinced. "Look, Vinnie, I've heard the rest of this story before, but… you never told us she was already married. She was already committed to the Jenova Project, and to Hojo, long before you came along. Just apart from you and her doing the wrong thing, she made those choices all by herself, so—"

"She chose _me_ all by herself, too." Vincent's voice became flat and monotonous, and Yuffie realised she had hurt him. The thought surprised her so much that some of her anger faded. Unfortunately, Vincent, misunderstanding her intentions, began to fade as well.

"No! Wait!" The cry burst from her. "Please… stay, Vincent? It would… it would help." He stared at her as though she had said something alien and ludicrous. Yuffie blushed under his scrutiny, but was relieved to note that he had become clearer once again.

"You.. you know what happened here. It was through me that Lucrecia died." The images around them faded.

Yuffie held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa… Didn't you just say that she chose you all by herself? That makes it _not_ your fault, Vinnie, especially if she was already part of the Jenova Project before you came to Nibelheim." She paused. "In fact, you must have influenced her a lot. She would have been so close to not going through with it because of you. I mean, that smile you had going? Come on. What woman could resist that?" He was staring at her again. Yuffie struggled onward.

"Anyway, my _point_ is that she was already agreed to everything in the Jenova Project before you came along, and there was nothing you could have done to stop her. So why blame yourself? I mean, you got locked in a coffin, for Leviathan's sake!"

Vincent was cold. She saw by his face that he wasn't accepting it. He had spent so long thinking it was his fault that he probably couldn't think of it any other way, let alone accept it as truth.

"Let us move on." He said icily. Yuffie shrank from the harshness of his voice. The blackness started to whirl around them, taking shape and form again. Crazily, in the swirling colours, Yuffie thought she could hear carnival music…

~*~

A/N: Well, what do you think of this chapter? ^^ Please review and tell me! The next part is already written for your reading pleasure… but because I'm evil and have been feeling neglected of late, I'm not posting 'til I have some more reviews! ^^ Mucho gracias!

To InsanityLaughsAtYou… wow, you made your Chaos plushie?? The only thing I ever made was a pair of shorts that look more like a floral patterned sack. - -; I can cook, though! :)

To Wyrren… You can't hold my creativity hostage; it's holding _me_ hostage. That's why all my assignments are currently on hiatus and I am typing this as fast as I possibly can, which doesn't hold a candle to your typing speed, but that's not the point.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed! 3!!


	5. Still Frames

Disclaimer:  I don't own anything from FFVII. Wish I owned Vinnie, though. ^^

A/N: This is the piece of writing that started this fic. Just something I came up with while thinking of a certain friend of mine who does all she can to avoid a photograph, and wondering why on earth someone would go to the lengths she does to be left out of them. I'm a freaky freak like that.

…not to say that I think she's mad suicidal or anything. She'd never. Which I'm profoundly glad of, because I think I'd die.

Lonely Miracle 

**Still Frames**

So take the photographs and still frames in your mind 

_Put them on a shelf in good health and good time_

_Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial_

_For what it was worth, it was worth all the while_

_  ~_ "Time of Your Life", Greenday

Yuffie recognised this night. The lights flashed brightly all around them, the noise of a thousand people screaming, laughing, having a good time was all around them. She could see them all standing in front of a giant moogle, could see herself jumping up and down with glee.

_"Come on, you guys! We have to have a picture. It's just one of those things!"_

She watched herself in fascination as the past Yuffie latched on to Cid's arm and began dragging him over to stand near Aeris and Cait Sith near the even bigger moogle. Cid grumbled, but Aeris looked at him so imploringly he had to stay. Barret strode over with a scowl on his face, but stood with his arms crossed over his chest, glowering at the photographer.__

_"Come on Vincent, you too!"_

He stood behind the photographer, looking completely out of place. He shook his head once firmly. Barret uncrossed his arms.__

_"Vince, if we have to go through this, then so do you."_

Vincent stood there, staring at them, eyes cold and distant as he replied.

_"No."_

It was simple, it was clear. There was no possible way she could have gotten him to change his mind. Still, she skipped back to him.

_"Come on, Vinnie, please? Just one photo? You can just stand in the back if you want."_

He had just stared at her, and a slow blush of anger and humiliation had covered her face. She had sneered, determined to cover her intense disappointment.

_"You know what? Don't bother. Like I wanted you in a photo of mine anyway! You'd probably just make the lens break."_

The vision faded and the footsteps of the real Vincent echoed loudly in the darkness behind her. She turned around to watch him carefully. If there was one thing she had learned here, it was that Vincent was not at all who he seemed.

"…Vincent? Why wouldn't you come have a photo with us?" Her voice was soft, masking the hurt she still felt at his refusal all that time ago.

Vincent's head dropped so that he watched his feet. "…I hate photographs."

"Why, Vincent? It's just a photo."

The air around them started to shimmer as Vincent began to remember something else. "…I hate them… always showing happier times… times better than they are now… it's like they're mocking me!" His voice was harsh and choked with bitterness and hate. "Mocking me for all I've lost…"

Yuffie saw Lucrecia again, this time out of her lab coat in a pale blue dress that covered her arms and her pregnant belly. Vincent, handsome in his smart blue Turks suit, stood behind her one arm around Lucrecia's waist. Yuffie stared in surprise, a tiny grin spreading over her face and blossoming into a face-splitting one. The Vincent in the still frame was smiling, and not just the sad half-smile he had given after they had seen Lucrecia in the cave behind the waterfall, but a wide smile of true happiness. Yuffie's heart ached.

"You were so happy together…" she whispered.

"We were so happy together… just look at what either of us have now…" Vincent responded. He banished the memory and turned to walk away into the darkness. Yuffie ran after him.

"Vincent! Vincent, you can't leave me here. I can't wander your memories forever…" She caught at his cloak. He turned on her with a furious snarl.

"You did not have to wander my memories at all! Why couldn't you just have died? We would be done with this place… these memories… these memories that I hate more than the Chaos demon…" His fingers, real and biomechanical, dug into her shoulders painfully. Yuffie barely felt them.

"Did you want me to die, Vincent? Would you have preferred it that way?" Her voice was cold enough to rival his, anger smouldering in the depths of her stomach, flaming out from the tip of her tongue. Vincent's grip relaxed as he faltered, but she didn't give him the chance to strike back. "Would you have liked it better, rotting in your coffin, dreaming your life away? Did you like your _nightmares_ better than your _friends, Vincent?_" Her voice had risen to a shriek as the hurt poured out.

"Did you _like_ lying there day after day, night after night, crying in your sleep? Was it better than your second chance? Then stay here, Vincent, just stay here and let me the hell out of your little nightmare world! Let me out of this hell you made for yourself because you were too cowardly to get up and do anything about it, too _stupid_ to seize the opportunity you had! Do you think Lucrecia would have wanted it this way, you wasting everything, remembering it all and hating it and poisoning all the good you had? _Do you?_" She shoved at him, hard, rage lending her strength. Vincent took a step back, then another, and another. Yuffie advanced on him furiously.

"Don't be such a damn coward, Vincent! Stop running away from the truth."

"It can't be…" Vincent muttered. "It can't be… stop… stop it, Yuffie…" His eyes were wide with near panic. The air around them flickered with a thousand different images with Vincent's confusion.

"No, Vincent. You stop it. Stop deceiving yourself. Stop running. Please." Yuffie stopped in her tracks, suddenly drained. "Just listen to me. Please. Vincent, I want to go home. I want to get out of this place. Please, Vincent, I have to help you to see this. I have to help you to get home. I don't want to die."

"How can I help you… when I cannot even help myself? I don't want to wake up… just let me die…"

"God, Vincent, listen to yourself! You can't… I won't let you. Just… Leviathan! Help me, Vincent! Help me get out. Then if you still want to leave… if you still want to rot away in your coffin…" She looked up at him balefully. "…I won't stop you."

Vincent's eyes were clouded with grief and pain, but he had stopped shaking. "…I don't want to keep you here…" He said truthfully. "I don't want to condemn you to my fate… Yuffie…"

Yuffie closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms securely around his middle, letting out the choked end of a sob. "Good. That's good. Come on, Vincent."

Vincent stepped away from her embrace. "…what do you have to say to me?"

"All I did…" Yuffie returned softly. "Just… just that it's not your fault… it was never your fault. The rise of the Shinra wasn't your fault, Sephiroth wasn't your fault, Lucrecia wasn't your fault. You can't take the world on your shoulders, Vinnie, just the chunks that belong to you."

Vincent stared at her for a long time. Then he began to fade. Yuffie looked down at herself – she was deteriorating, too. Fear welled and then sad acceptance. Whatever happened now was up to Vincent.

A/N:  Well, that's that. I warned you I was weird. :P Please review. Next chapter is probably the last.

Thankyou to all my wondrous reviewers! ^^ You were great. I am indeed encouraged to finish this. :) To boost my esteem further… please read "Faith & Feather"! It's Yuffentine-y, too! *shameless plugging* Next chapter will be up as soon as I have a microt of free time, I swear to the gods.


	6. Death Defy

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters or settings from FFVII, don't own "Death Defy" by Motor Ace, either.

Lonely Miracle Death Defy Starting to tune in to your station 

_I'm starting to lose my obligations_

_I'm talking in tongues of celebration_

I'm trying to be cool 

          ~ "Death Defy" Motor Ace

"…oh my god… my god, it is them! How did they… did they get here… get here?"

"Lifestream must have… stream must have dumped… dumped them here… here."

_Here?_ Where was 'here', anyway? Vincent frowned as the voices drifted through his head, fickle as the breezes that brought the sounds to his enhanced ears.

"…you see… see it? He moved… Vincent, you… you awake?"

More importantly, was he lucid? Vincent considered. If the Lifestream had affected him as it had the other (_…Cloud…_) he was a danger to the owners of those voices. He found no obvious changes in the functioning of his psyche, nor in his perceptions.

Does the madman know he is mad? 

"…Are you awake… awake, Vincent?"

"I'm awake." He made his mouth move. Suddenly everything seemed a great deal more real. He heard a gasp of surprise and elation. He opened his eyes. "Where am I?"

Tifa, Cloud and Reeve peered over him. Reeve was looking worried. "You're in Midgar. We think the Lifestream deposited you here when it… when Meteor hit." He finished uneasily. Vincent processed this information thoughtfully. Then something else arose in his mind with startling forcefulness.

"Where is Yuffie?"

He sat up and glanced around. Barret, Cid and Red XIII were gathered around the unconscious Yuffie Kisaragi. He took a calming breath, relieved. Tifa shot a secret smile at Cloud.

"She also fell into the Lifestream." Vincent said, probably needlessly. Tifa nodded to him.

"She isn't awake yet, tough. You… are you feeling okay?" The guarded query pertaining to the issue of his sanity was toyed with and put aside.

"I feel fine." Vincent replied. It was the truth, once you got past the half-drunk fuzziness that encompassed his limbs and the vague accompanying pain in his head. It would fade, he hoped, and he could move, albeit not very gracefully. He accepted their aid in pulling him to his feet, but denied himself the crutch of Reeve's shoulder. Unsteadily, he moved to where Barret stood, an almost alien sense of pleasure in his heart as he saw that all of his friends were safe. He watched as Barret lifted Yuffie's body into his arms.

"Won't wake up." The big man grumbled. Even Vincent heard the note of anxiety in Barret's tone. He looked at Yuffie with a frown. Cloud had survived this, as had Tifa. Perhaps she was only very weak. But surely… he smiled suddenly beneath the draggled cover of his cloak. _How typical_.

It took a while to reach the outskirts, where they organised a room for Yuffie in a makeshift inn. The people of Midgar had discovered their charity in the Meteor's collision with the Planet, and were eager to help the people that had helped prevent the whole Planet as they knew it from being destroyed.

Vincent volunteered to watch Yuffie. "You are all tired. I do not need sleep. I will watch her." His tone brooked no disagreement. He waited until they were gone and sat down on Yuffie's bed.

"You are very good." He told her. "Better than most. But your breathing became uneven when Barret lifted you."

Yuffie did not move, nor reply. Her eyes were closed lightly, her breathing deep and even. Her arms were perfectly limp. For a moment, Vincent doubted.

"If you truly are asleep… or ill… then you will not want Knights of the—"

Without opening her eyes, Yuffie snatched the crimson orb from his human hand, or tried to. A combination of the sluggishness that the Lifestream brought on and Vincent's fast reflexes meant that her arm merely swiped inaccurately at the man.

"Subtle, Yuffie." Vincent chided softly, a slight smile on his face. He quickly chased it away – what was he smiling for?

"Would… would it help if I said that was a reflex to the words 'Knights of the Round'?" She twitched her arms as she said the words. Vincent looked at her sceptically.

"No."

Her eyes flickered open, wide and full of mischief. "It was worth a try. You get more attention when you wake up last, y'know. Tifa's a sucker." She grinned at him and looked at the materia he held. "Hmph. I knew you'd never come around me with the real Knights of the Round. Just a measly Shiva. You could have made it something good."

"That would have defeated the purpose. I take it that you are well?"

Yuffie gave him a look. "Well, I can't exactly make my arms work properly, or I'd have had that damn Shiva Summon, now, wouldn't I?" She laughed quietly, a grin on her face. "Nope. No crazier than usual, Vinnie. Just the same old subliminal urgings to… grab your materia and run. You know how it is." Vincent gave her a dirty look, which made her giggle. "Not gonna, Vinnie. I can't even move, and I wouldn't anyway. Not again. Your materia's safe with me – uh, you. Yeah."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence in which Vincent eyed Yuffie in mostly mock-distrust. She tried to sit up and flopped back on the bed, obviously not in complete control of her body just yet. Vincent tucked his Shiva carefully away and grabbed her arm to pull her gently into a sitting position. She leaned against him as he moved her pillows, sighing as he propped her up against them.

"I can't believe they left you to look after me. I mean, are they crazy or something?" She scowled, tried to cross her arms and pouted. "Sure, Cloud killed Sephiroth, but you fell into the Lifestream! You'd think they'd give you a break or something."

Vincent blinked. He had been expecting something along the lines of, "What if you'd gone crazy and you killed me or something?" Yuffie's completely selfless answer surprised him. He supposed it shouldn't have, given all she had done for him in the Lifestream. After all she had helped him to understand…

"Um… you okay, Vinnie?" Yuffie asked. Her voice was uncertain, as though she wasn't supposed to be asking him this. He nodded slightly.

"I am not insane either, Yuffie."

"That's good. I was, uh, talking about the other thing." She actually sounded truly concerned. He wondered if a hallucination had turned him into a gullible materia merchant. He didn't reply.

"Vinnie? Um… when Reeve… when this is all over… um. What are you gonna do? About… about the other thing." Vincent considered as he watched her face, her stormy eyes the focus of his ruby gaze. The coffin held no appeal; never had. Perhaps he had only needed time… time to accept. Truthfully, Lucrecia had left him. She had left him, when she had lived like a wraith in that cave for thirty years… He did not need to punish himself for her death. She had done it herself.

"…I don't know."

She blinked. "You serious?"

He gave her a look. "Yes."

She stared at him for quite a long time. He couldn't fathom what she was thinking, so he stared at the wall opposite him. Suddenly, he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Yuffie flung herself gracelessly at him, knocking them both to the floor as she tried to share what she had meant no doubt meant to be a hug. Vincent winced at the loud thump they made as they fell to the floor.

"Uuuurgh. I hate being dizzy. The Lifestream sucks." Without his cape, she would have been speaking directly into his throat. Vincent shifted uncomfortably. Yuffie didn't seem to get the hint. He sat them both up carefully, and leaned against the side of the bed. Yuffie pushed herself away from his shoulder weakly and opened her eyes.

"So… are you… do you…" She bit her lip and looked at the ground. "Ummm…" Vincent looked down at her, slightly surprised that she of all people was having difficulty saying something. She took a deep breath.

"Vincent, do you still think it's your fault?" Her eyes returned to his, cloudy depths anxious.

"Yuffie…" Seeing his obvious hesitation, her face fell.

"Vincent, please try to see it wasn't you. Don't go down there again. Please?" There was a pause and a hollow laugh and she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm being so selfish… I can't stand you blaming yourself. I said I wouldn't stop you, but I don't think I can do that." She muttered to herself. Her arms tightened around him and he stiffened in surprise. "Don't go back. It wasn't you. Don't go back. Please. I'm so selfish, Vincent, but please, don't go back, for me?"

Slowly, the muscles beneath her hands relaxed. Slowly, he leaned forward, human hand and claw coming up to rest on her shoulders.

"Yuffie… I never said that I was going back."

It took several seconds before she processed that. Then she threw her arms around his neck with a joyous exclamation and kissed his cheek and Vincent slammed a hand over her mouth before she could wake the entire neighbourhood. Their noses touched.

"Keep your voice down. The others are sleeping." There was a pause as Vincent's mind caught up with events. "Did you just…?"

Yuffie's eyes were sparkling, inches from his own. She glowed, she pulsed, she throbbed with happiness. He stared at her from inches away, slow elation throbbing through him. Was… was he the cause of this? This supreme happiness, this joy? The surprise lifted his gloved hand away from Yuffie's growing grin. She planted another kiss on his other cheek and cackled loudly as Vincent sputtered and turned red. "Red suits ya, Vinnie!" She giggled gleefully.

He felt a sudden surge of affection and appreciation that had long been struggling to make itself known. She seemed to have that effect on him; the ray of obnoxious sunshine that woke him (and the rest of AVALANCHE, admittedly) of a morning, shining through the crack in the dark curtains and blazing into his eyes. His chest burned fiercely. "I am certain it will look even better on you."

Before he knew what he was doing, he had darted forward to capture her lips with his. He felt Yuffie go tense with surprise, then limp. He held her to him, cradling her against his chest, lungs burning for oxygen but every part of him refusing to give this up. He didn't want to loose this measure of peace. Yuffie pulled back with a startled gasp and Vincent very nearly whimpered in protest. He was weak for wanting this, weak for even considering tainting the girl in his arms, but he didn't care. All his reasoning, all his guilt… stripped away. Yuffie gathered her strength to push herself up, look him in the eyes. Her skin was flushed and her hair was askew. She looked beautiful.

"What… what was _that_ for?" She asked breathlessly, barely able to string this thought together. Vincent touched his human hand to her cheek.

"Yuffie…" He stroked her soft skin gently, smiling at her relaxed happiness. A frown furrowed her brow suddenly. He heard the door click at the same moment she slumped, feigning sleep again.

"Everything all right, Vin- _Vincent!_" Tifa exclaimed, a mixture of shock, horror and wild, childish glee in her voice. Vincent blinked at the tall woman and then did what any sensible person would do in such a situation.

He closed his eyes. "Sleeping."

~*~

A/N: ^^ Last line dedicated to Wyrren Sarrasri. *cackle* Now, an important question – do you readers need a proper closing chapter to this, or is this as closed as you want it to get? *grin* I'm sorta inspired by this, so do tell me if you want one last chapter!


	7. Elevation

Disclaimer: I do not own Yuffie, Vincent, Wutai, Nibelheim, Godo… list goes on In short, everything you saw in Final Fantasy VII belongs to Square Enix! One quote shamelessly nabbed from Robin Hobb's… something. I know Burrich says it. I think it might be _Royal Assassin_, but I'm not sure.

A/N: Well, I've been toying with this for a while, and I've decided to sorta move on a little bit. _Death Defy_ can be considered the final chapter, and these next parts an epilogue of sorts. (Translation: Rose Flame couldn't resist the fluff-bunnies that were dancing around her shrieking "Do it! Do it!!") So, enjoy.

Elevation

The remains of the slums burned. It wasn't an attempt to purify. It wasn't an accidental blaze that had broken out in the debris. But nevertheless, atop the highest heaps of rubble, and in the valleys of mountainous piles of twisted metal, people danced and sang and rejoiced.

The sky was clear. No fiery ball of space rock loomed. The Planet was safe.

Where the Shinra building had once been, there was a large clearing of the rubble, sheared away or destroyed by the combined forces of Holy and the Lifestream in their attempts to repel Meteor. In the centre of this, quite possible all of the flammable goods left in Midgar had been dragged to form what may have been the biggest bonfire in the history of the Planet. It dwarfed the Cosmo Candle, it made the flames in Da Chao's belly look like matchsticks. It was around this that the majority of the central Midgar community was gathered, and where the members of AVALANCHE had been called for a special celebration.

Tables were laden with any and all of Midgar's produce. There were huge trestles covered with beverages – most of the alcoholic ones courtesy of Reno of the Turks and his semi-illegal underground stash. Every citizen of Midgar had contributed, their sense of community greatly enhanced in their exuberance at the defeat of Sephiroth and the destruction of Meteor.

Halfway up one of the smaller hills of rubble that surrounded the immense bonfire, Vincent Valentine appeared to care little for proceedings down below. His cape wrapped around him, the Death Penalty carefully wedged between a washing machine and the crossed supports of a charred ironing board, he sat with his legs down the slope before him, bent so that the unstable car door he was sitting on wouldn't go skidding off down the slope and take him with it. In one hand he held a crude pot metal medallion. It said simply, **AVALANCHE** and below that, in smaller letters, **Vincent Valentine**. He smiled slightly. It was, he supposed, a nice sort of token. Given the severe shortage of everything in Midgar just now, he had expected nothing.

He tucked the medallion away and looked at the pair of socks draped over his claw. Some crazy old woman had grabbed him _by the claw_ and demanded that he take the socks. They were thick and chunky. The rainbow stripes on them were uneven and crude. _You never know when you'll need a good pair of socks_, the old woman had said severely. _I bet you really wanted a good pair of socks while you were in that Crater. I bet it was freezing. You have those, sonny, and you make sure you get some good use out of 'em._

Vincent wondered what had surprised him more – that he was being given _rainbow striped socks_ or that she had called him _sonny_. He shook his head slightly, and smiled to himself. He was glad the old woman had survived. Midgar had probably been inauspiciously lacking in sock-givers before Meteor. But the sock-givers were always the useful ones. He tucked away his socks with a faint smile, and turned his gaze to the bonfire.

There were more than a few people dancing, though by now (it was approaching midnight) many of those who had first crowded the 'floor' had relented to getting themselves very drunk at the edges of the clearing. Vincent was not the only one camped out high in the rubble-hills, but he thought, glancing around, that he was probably the only one not trying to salvage things. Or drinking. Or both at once.

Somehow, in the middle of the commotion, Vincent's eye was drawn to a particular figure. Slim, short and tanned, usually baring most of her body to the world, she was tonight weighed down by a formal kimono in olive green. Her silhouette against the flames looked tired, but as he watched, three small children ran up to her. As he watched, they attached themselves to her legs. Exclaiming and throwing her arms in the air, Yuffie dashed them off and ran away, spinning to grab at them when they came too close, in some kind of strange game. Vincent couldn't hear her, but he knew she was laughing, breathless with her love for everything and everyone, overjoyed to have the company, ecstatic to be running and spinning and dancing.

She would have been just as happy sitting in the rain, her hair plastered to her head, blinded by the droplets in her eyes and drinking the rain that she caught in her mouth. She would have been as happy dangling by the seat of her pants from Gaea's cliffs. (Well, that might have been pushing it a bit.) Vincent's eyes softened as he looked at her. "Yuffie…"

As though she had heard him, she suddenly paused in her spinning and looked around. Following some sort of sixth sense, she scanned the line of folk at the base of the rubble-hills, and then her eyes travelled upward slowly until she found the blotch of scarlet and midnight in the twisted metal. She bent to speak to the children, and they ran off through the crowd.

Vincent watched as Yuffie slid expertly through the people, lifting up her heavy skirts as she scrambled up the debris pile to get to him. When she was a few feet below him, she paused and dropped her many-layered formal kimono back down around her ankles. Her breast heaved gently as she caught her breath.

"Vinnie," she said breathlessly, cocking her head to the side, "What in Leviathan's name are you doing all the way up here?"

It was an interesting question. Vincent cocked his head at her in return, and she smiled. He shifted over on his car door as she struggled the last few feet to sit down heavily beside him. "Oof!" She said, settling herself as comfortably as possible in the heavy garments. "Well? What's eating your liver _this_ time?"

Vincent looked across at her and lifted his shoulders in a lazy sort of shrug. "I dislike crowds." He said simply. "And I cannot see the stars from down by the bonfire."

Yuffie looked up into the sky, her face warm with simple pleasure at the company, at the bonfire, at the stars. "Yeah," she said eventually. "I see what you mean."

Vincent blinked. Had he meant anything? Perhaps she knew him better than he thought. Definitely, in fact. He looked up, leaning back slightly, and sighed softly. Yuffie glanced across and grinned at him.

"So you're up here all on your lonesome, huh?" She asked. Vincent stared at her as though to say, _you're here, aren't you?_ and she giggled quietly. "Vinnie, you oughta come down and join the party for a while. Cait Sith and Cid want to get you drunk." She added seriously. Vincent blinked and then let out a low chuckle.

"I'll keep that in mind. For now…" He leaned back further, resting his back against a chunk of concrete. He winced and tilted his head oddly to avoid it being speared by a pipe protruding from the concrete. Yuffie's lips twitched as she watched him gaze into the sky, blood red eyes bottomless. Fathomless. She smiled.

"Well, Vinnie, I'd _love_ to stick around and not-chat, but I have duties to attend to." She rolled her eyes at him. "Dad decided that Wutai'd make a contribution to the celebration. So I have to do the Dance of Leviathan."

Vincent frowned vaguely at the sky. "Doesn't that have two pairs?"

"Yes." Yuffie said, pouting. "Chekhov and Staniv… and me and Gorky! Dad has to _preside_ or something. Isn't that just ridiculous? I mean, I love Gorky, and he's a nice old coot, but he can't dance at _all_. And you just _know_ that he's going to mess up and… uuurgh, Vinnie, I think I'll just stay here with you after all." She flopped back against his chunk of concrete and said, "OW!" Then she sat up rubbing her head and muttering evilly under her breath about demonic pipes.

Vincent smiled. "So you are going to do the Dance of Leviathan." He said softly. He sat up. "I think that will be worth watching from up close, instead of seeing you as a matchstick from afar. I have not seen that dance in many years."

"Betcha haven't." Yuffie agreed. "So come on. Let's go find Gorky and get this show on the road."

"Oh that's not funny. That is not even _funny_. Why did you have to let him get to the rice wine?" Yuffie whined pathetically, looking at the snoring old man she was _supposed_ to be dancing with. Godo looked as displeased as she did.

"There was no 'let' about it!" He muttered. "It is highly disappointing. But I cannot dance tonight. We will have to cancel the Dance of Leviathan."

Yuffie took a breath, about to whine, and paused. She continued pausing until Godo looked at her curiously. Then she said, "Wait here. I think maybe I have an idea."

Tifa pushed her way through the crowds, Marlene on her hip, dragging Cloud by the arm to the edge of the circle that had been the designated area for the Dance of Leviathan. "Ooh, look Cloud! Yuffie's going to be dancing!" She said, excited. Cloud resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Marlene, who was watching proceedings with sleepy interest, and smiled instead. He was happy to be here. He was just unhappy at other people who… were not.

Cloud shook his head to dash away the vestiges of sadness. She'd want him to be happy. So he would be.

And there was Yuffie now, face grave in the tone of the dance. She offered them neither a wink nor a smile as her eyes passed over them, but stood ten feet from her retainer Chekhov and waited silently. Behind them, two men knelt on the ground, one of them the warrior Staniv. Tifa didn't recognise the other one.

Upon the dais, Shake pounded the drum thrice to get the audience's attention properly focused. Slowly, in unison, Yuffie and Chekhov bowed. Then, as Shake's arm fell again, they whirled into movement. Somehow, though the motions themselves were minimal, Tifa saw a snaking river, a rolling ocean – the undulating coils of the Water God, Leviathan in all His majesty, was plain to see in the dance. Tifa found herself wondering if they would actually Summon the giant snake.

The men, too, were dancing, a powerful backdrop to the more gentle motions of the women. Their own steps were striking and bold, the force of a wave or a thundering waterfall. The man that danced behind Yuffie raised his face briefly to be sure that he kept pace with her, and Tifa gasped loudly.

"That's _Vincent!_" She hissed, elbowing Cloud in the ribs. "Looklooklook!" It was indeed Vincent, red eyes narrowed in concentration. Cloud stared for a moment, and leaned over to her ear.

"He's good." He whispered.

"Yeah!" Tifa marvelled, beaming as Vincent circled his partner with long, sweeping steps. She was amazed. "He looks so different in that… blue Wutaian thing!" She said admiringly. "You'd better look out, Cloud, you're not going to be the cute guy in AVALANCHE much longer!"

Cloud snorted.

Yuffie and Chekhov made one final leap and the dance was over. The crowd exploded with enthusiastic applause and loud catcalls of appreciation. Yuffie's expression remained stony until she straightened from her bow, and then she grinned widely at Tifa and pounced upon Vincent.

"That was fantastic! I had no idea you were so damn good!" She enthused, squeezing him tightly around the middle. "You _have_ to come to Wutai for all our festivals! There's no _way_ I'm dancing with Gorky any more!"

Vincent smiled a little despite himself. "I am glad I could remember it all." He said to the top of her head. He felt a hand land on his shoulder, and when he turned around, Tifa stood there, her wine coloured eyes bright like rubies.

"Vincent Valentine, you never told us you could dance or were dancing tonight or were Wutaian or--!!" She scolded with a grin so wide it must have been hurting her face. Yuffie slung her arm around Vincent's shoulders with some difficulty, her face practically _creaking_ with happiness.

"Wasn't he _great?_" She demanded proudly.

"He was! That was the most fantastic thing I've ever—"

Cloud caught Vincent's eye over Tifa's head. In unison, they clapped their hands over the mouth of the girl closest to them, and steered them far, far away from each other.

Vincent tried to take Yuffie back to the car door, but a small troop of slum gangsters had annexed it. Rather than waste energy antagonising them, he chose to lead Yuffie over to one of the far rubbish heaps, where they could still see the bonfire. This time, they sat on the side of a fridge, legs dangling over the door as though they were primary school children.

Yuffie looked at Vincent. He hadn't gone back for his regular clothes after the dance, so he still wore the 'blue Wutaian thing' with its riot of pale blue and gold embroidery. He hair was still bound back in a queue, though several wisps had escaped and were hanging down in front of his serious eyes.

He looked too damn ordered to be Vincent. She reached up and tugged the tie out of his hair, making it fall forward in its usual disarray. When he looked up in surprise, she nodded in satisfaction. "Much better." Vincent tossed his head to clear his vision and watched his companion with a considering expression. She, oblivious or feigning it well, rested her head on his shoulder companionably.

"Two hours 'til dawn." She estimated, looking at the sky. "We have to leave tomorrow. Today."

She felt the muscles tense in his arm and in his shoulder. "You are leaving?"

"Yes. I didn't tell anyone because I wasn't sure I wanted to see how they'd react. I have to go back to Wutai tomorrow. Pick up where I left off." A soft sigh. "I think Dad wants to re-introduce me to a few of the local lords… or someone else. It was someone from Rocket Town last time I was there." A feeble snicker. "You think it was Cid? Grossness!"

"Indeed." Vincent said, his voice a little colder that it had been moments ago. Yuffie sat up.

"Vinnie? What's up?"

Vincent hesitated. He had assumed… perhaps wanted to believe… that after all they had been through, she might want to stay with him. But he realised with a little chill of understanding that she had her own life to return to. Like the rest of AVALANCHE. Except for him. He frowned slightly. What right had he to intrude on that peace? He looked at her and his face was still. "I will miss you." He told her. Simple and pure, as though it were absolute, undeniable truth. Which it was. Yuffie's eyes softened.

"I'll miss you too, Vincent."

Though it was Yuffie who first opened her arms, it was a mutual hug. Over her head, Vincent closed his eyes as though in pain. It was happening again. He resisted the urge to clutch her to him in desperation. Instead, he bowed his head over hers, his claw resting on her lower back. She didn't flinch from his touch, her arms encircling him tightly.

But eventually she did pull away. He let her go reluctantly, arms resisting the movement more than they would have bending backwards at the elbow. Her hands rested on the back of his neck, and she held him at arm's length for a while.

"You know what, Vinnie? I've just realised something."

"…what's that?"

"If I go back down there and see the others, I'm going to cry." He blinked at this flat statement, brows knitting in concern. "So I want you to do something for me."

"…what's that?"

Yuffie smiled thankfully. "I want you to give everyone messages for me. First off, tell Dad that I've gone ahead on Falla. As for the others… tell Tifa to tell him. Tell Cloud to open his damn eyes. Tell Barret to never ever leave Marlene again. Tell Red to get a girlfriend. Tell Reeve to get a life. Tell Cid he's an asshole. He'll get it."

Vincent nodded slowly. "I will tell them." He promised. His eyes caught hers for a few moments, questioning. Then he looked away. "And I… what do I tell myself when you're gone?"

Yuffie's hands moved to capture his face. "You tell yourself 'two thousand Gil an hour' for all those festivals I'm going to hire you out for." Vincent closed his eyes to hide the pain in them. Yuffie's thumbs stroked his cheeks gently. "I'm not finished." Her hands tugged his face down to be kissed thoroughly. Before he could stop it, his hand rose to tangle slender fingers through her hair, his face relaxing of its own blissful accord.

Yuffie broke the kiss too soon, resting her forehead against his own. "Never go back to the Shinra Mansion." She whispered. "I want you to travel the world all over again and find out where you really belong."

_With you, always with you_, part of Vincent's mind cried in anguish. "Yes." He said gruffly. _Anything_. He _would_ do anything she asked of him.

He was startled enough by that revelation that he let her get away. Her thumbs stroked his face one last time, and her hands left his face. When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

A/N: Well, there we are. Maybe a little more mushy than we expect from Vincent, but hey, the guy's already broken down and kissed her twice before. I'm thinkin' we'd be seeing a teensy bit of an attitude change from our beloved Mr Valentine. Two more parts, unless I decide to combine them! Please review and tell me what you thought.


	8. Sweet Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own "Summer Sunshine", which is by The Corrs, and I don't own Vincent or the field he's walking through. I don't own "Walk On", either. That's by U2.  
  
A/N: The end of chapter six has been bugging me forever, but the chapters I uploaded didn't feel right. Now you have the same old chapter seven, but I'm changing things around a little, here. Thank the gods for The Corrs, because if I'd never heard "Summer Sunshine", this would probably never have come out and you'd be stuck with a stilted ending forever.  
  
**Sweet Beginnings**  
  
_Everyone's changing, I stay the same _

_I'm a solo cello outside a chorus _

_I've got a secret, it's time for me to tell it: _

_You've been keeping me warm._

-- "Summer Sunshine", The Corrs

It was late summer and the wind was in the trees. Vincent was glad for it in the humid Gongaga region, though the strength of the gusts had been playing havoc with his cloak - and his hair - for hours. He stretched out his legs and raised his human hand, considerably more weathered than it had been, to undo the clasps of his cloak.  
  
It had been nearly a year since the Dance of Leviathan, a year spent roaming every square inch of the Planet all over again, on foot, on Chocobo, sometimes working briefly to exterminate the remaining monsters for villages in distress. Vincent didn't give away his time and his ammunition for free - he was not stupid, and though others might think he had all the time in the world with his rather persistent twenty-seventh year, Vincent couldn't help but feel that he had no time left.  
  
Folding his cloak carefully and laying it neatly atop his pack, he paused a moment in thought and then took off his boots as well, wriggling pale toes in the refreshing air and sunlight. He'd bound his hair down his back this morning, but in the wind all the jagged wisps had torn free and were bobbing determinedly around his eyes. He leaned back against the trunk of a convenient tree and squinted up through its branches at the sun that caused this baking heatwave.  
  
He found himself thinking, not for the first time, of her.  
  
Not Lucrecia - no, she had fled his mind many months ago, returning only occasionally to remind him of how much he had loved her when she was alive, no longer to crush his spirits so oppressively as her remembrance had. Instead, his thoughts turned to Yuffie, the whole reason behind his quest.  
  
_Never go back to the mansion._  
  
He never had. He'd stepped outside Midgar and just walked, at first just for Wutai, because he longed desperately to follow the ninja into her own world, a world he'd been a part of once and could surely return to. But the thought had paused him - what if he could not? And Yuffie's words rang clear.  
  
_I want you to travel the world all over again and find out where you really belong._  
  
His lips curved lazily as he thought of it, and once more he felt her fingertips brush lightly along his cheekbones. Vincent closed his eyes. He'd done as she had requested of him - well, not requested. Yuffie did not request. And Vincent was hardly the type to merely acquiesce. He would charge out in full-blooded passionate fury, or he would not move at all.  
  
Yuffie had somehow roused a much gentler motivation in him.  
  
And he recalled her laughing, dancing and skipping through flames with children the train to her olive kimono. He recalled her desperate anger at him, for him, her hands latched around an immaterial arm (his essence wrapped and rolled in the power of her own) and always the beautiful, sparkling, ever-changing clear grey eyes. Whenever he thought of that time spent in the Lifestream with her, he felt...  
  
(no guilt. no shame.)  
  
...as though there was nothing wrong with spending every remaining second of his existence as close to Yuffie as he had been then.  
  
As close as he had been to her during the Dance of Leviathan. After the Dance of Leviathan.  
  
Vincent's eyes slid towards his cloak, lying neatly folded across his pack. He extended his claw, picked it up by a corner, and then flung it down again some way from where he sat. He smiled in a satisfied sort of way as the cloak lay there, rumpled and uneven on the rocks and the grass, and looking slightly crestfallen at its liberation from folded obscurity.  
  
He picked up his pack again and left it there, walking on for a while in bare feet. It was about time he returned home.  
  
_Home - Hard to know what it is if you've never had one _

_Home - I can't say where it is but I know I'm going _

_Home - That's where the hurt is _

_And I know it aches _

_And your heart it breaks _

_And you can only take so much _

_Walk on..._

-- "Walk On", U2  
  
- - -  
  
A/N: Next and final chapter coming very soon. Please review.


	9. A Perfect Circle

Disclaimer: I do not own Yuffie, Vincent, Godo, Wutai or anything else from FFVII.

A/N: Here we go. The final chapter. I mean it this time.

**A Perfect Circle**

Yuffie sat on her front porch, darning socks. She'd pricked her fingers half a dozen times trying to darn and watch the villagers' comings and goings at the same time. Now she watched her fingers like a hawk, tongue protruding from the corner of her mouth as she worked.

Prior to the darning, Chekhov had been trying to teach her to do tapestries and cross stitches and embroidery. Yuffie had finally told her retainer to teach her how to stitch wounds or make clothes or darn socks - things that were useful. Chekhov had grit her teeth and stormed off to whine to Godo about his stubborn daughter. Shake had snidely showed the older girl how to darn and gone to play tag with the other village children.

So it was that Yuffie was watching her needlework and not the road when Vincent Valentine walked into town.

She heard the crunch of deliberate feet coming slowly across the square in front of her house and stilled her expression. That would be Godo, coming to tell her that she was to learn embroidery to better prepare herself for married life. He'd said it three times already for completely different things - cooking, dancing, massage. She'd laughed in his face every time he'd said it. She was too plain, too boyish and too headstrong for any of the men her father had chosen to ever want to marry her. A grin tugged at her lips at the very thought.

The grin faded as feet thudded up her stairs and a shadow - rather tall and thin for her father's at this time of day, she thought with a frown - fell across her needlework. She stabbed herself again with the darning needle and dropped everything with a loud, "Ouch!" She stuck her finger in her mouth for a second, and when she took it out, said, "Get the hell out of my light, moron!"

A chuckle that was defnitely not her father's errupted from the throat way, way above her head and she nearly gave herself whiplash, she looked up so fast. Vincent's brows were quirked at her, a pleased smile on his face. "I had wondered what you'd say when I walked into town. I must say, I had not placed money on _that_."

Yuffie said, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."

Vincent's smile widened a fraction and began to mutate into a grin, the tips of his canines beginning to show. This was a reaction he _had_ been banking on. "Hello, Yuffie."

Yuffie said, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

She dashed her needlework out of her lap, scattering it all over the porch itself and off the edge into the garden below, and leapt on him. Fortunately Vincent had a good sense of balance, or they would have both crashed down the stairs and into the courtyard. She seized him about the chest and held him as tightly as she possibly could. Vincent's arms closed about her with a firmness and a confidence she had rarely felt in him and she found herself grinning so hard her cheeks hurt.

She said, "Vinnie! Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie!"

Vincent rested his chin upon her head and closed his eyes for the briefest of moments before she pulled back and began doing a frantic dance on the spot. He opened his eyes again and regarded her with the barest smidgen of annoyance. He'd been enjoying that.

"Why didn't you come see me _sooner_, you bum!" Her words were harsher than her expression: she was still grinning too hard for him to take this as anything other than a joke. Her hands were on her hips, eyes shining almost luminously silver with delight. Vincent shrugged, the action calmer than he felt.

"Though seasons have passed, many more will pass before I leave this place; and my only other destination, the Lifestream." He said, reverting to his old speech patterns. Yuffie took a few moments to translate this into Yuffie-speak.

"You're _staying?!_" She squeaked, and flung herself at him again. "Oh my gaaaaaaaaaaaaawd!"

Vincent rested his chin on her head rather more firmly this time, murmuring, "If that's all right with you." Yuffie responded by squeezing him tighter.

"Mmm, I suppose so." She said, voice dripping with sarcastic reluctance. "Where are you gonna live? You'll have to build your own place, no one's died since Grandmother Asako... oh..." A pause. "You could rebuild her place."

Vincent knew Grandmother Asako's house. Grandmother Asako had been the proud owner of the oldest cherry tree, which showed its old age by spitefully dropping the same branch on her roof every year and making the whole thing cave in. It had gotten to the point where the people of Wutai placed bets against each other on which day it would finally fall. Asako had always won. She had been a short, shrivelled, chestnut-coloured old woman, but gods help you if you got on her bad side. Grandmother Asako had been Grandmother Asako when _he_ had been a boy. His mind boggled at the math and he decided to leave well enough alone.

"I would be honoured to rebuild the house of Grandmother Asako."

Yuffie giggled into his collar bone. "Oh, she'd _love_ you." She said teasingly. Vincent smiled. Grandmother Asako had been one of the few people who'd actually paid any attention to him as a child after his mother's death. As he - and no doubt Asako as well - liked to think, she wasn't stupid. "You'll have to talk to Godo about it, since Wutai isn't actually mine yet."

"I'll do that."

Vincent made absolutely no move to let go of the slim ninja. Yuffie made no allowances for him to escape. They stood there in the circle of each others' arms for a while. Unsurprisingly, Yuffie broke first. "Come on in, I'll make you some tea." Ah, tea. The Wutaian symbol of... everything, really. Vincent followed her inside and eye-smiled at the mess. "Ah... don't mind the bomb site. And don't step on the cats." She extricated a zabuton from underneath a particularly sleepy looking tabby and handed it to him. "Have a seat."

She turned around and threaded her way along a trace of floor lined by piles of scrolls, books, slippers, cats, shiny things, childrens' musical instruments and ninja equipment. He winced inadvertantly as her foot narrowly missed a throwing star. "What have I missed?" He asked when she was standing safely by the kettle on the other side of the room. She shrugged.

"Same old thing. 'Yuffie, you're a disrespectful brat with no reverence for the family name or title or traditions and you'll never make a respectable marriage if you continue on this way and what am I supposed to do, here, live forever?' That kinda thing. Godo wants me to get married." She didn't notice the sudden total silence at her back. "I keep telling him it's never gonna happen, not in Wutai anyway, and he keeps insisting that I change my habits, and I keep telling him he can shove it up his..." She had noticed the silence now. Brushing a few strands of hair out of her face, she turned to face Vincent, whose eyes were still and thoughtful. "You all right, Vinnie?"

"I am fine." He said distantly. "I have been travelling, trying to find where I belonged, as you told me to."

Yuffie crossed the floor again, this time nicking the throwing star with her toe. She paused to fling the thing carelessly at the wall, but ninja ways are hard to suppress and the throwing star embedded itself deeply in the front of a chest of drawers. She sat down next to the second zabuton, upon which the tabby had curled up again. She hadn't the heart to remove him a second time.

"That doesn't sound all right to me." She said dubiously. "I mean it, are you feeling okay?"

Vincent turned bloodred eyes upon her and she caught her breath as he spoke to her. "Yuffie, do not be alarmed by this, please... I came here today intending to find you. I do not intend to allow you to slip away as easily as you did on our last meeting."

"...what do you mean, Vinnie?" She had a growing, burning, fizzing feeling she knew exactly what he meant, and that hovering knowledge was threatening to make her heart explode.

"I mean that fulfilling your request this past year has taken every ounce of strength I have within me. I am in love with you, Yuffie Kisaragi, and do not wish to be separated from you ever again."

Yuffie's hands, which had clenched in her lap, fell lax at her knees. She stared at him rather blankly for a time and he, slowly, felt the barest trickle of doubt filter through his heart and into the cracks of Chaos. And then, like a Chocobo clearing the final jump, a smile spread over her face and she looked up at him happily and honestly. "Ditto, Vinnie." Vincent spent a few moments staring at her, feeling the searing liquid joy suffuse him.

Yuffie, being of slightly more impulsive nature, slithered across the floor to place herself beside him, and kissed him for the third time.

Godo found them sitting happily in each others' arms an hour or so later. His daughter had been tamed, draped blissfully across the sharpshooter's knees as he told her of his year, occasionally stealing a kiss or a smile; Vincent had opened himself fully to this slip of a girl, who took what she needed and never (well, rarely) gave it back, not noticing the stunned Wutaian father standing on the porch. Godo opened his mouth and yelled.

- - -

They were married within the month and all of AVALANCHE was there, along with a hefty portion of what remained of Shinra. Cait Sith spiked the punch.

Vincent rebuilt Grandmother Asako's house and never lived in it. He left flowers and incense and rice cakes at the cherry tree outside.

The cherry tree blossomed every year. And every year it dropped the same branch and destroyed Asako's roof. And every year, Vincent and Yuffie fixed it up. Neither of them even considered removing the cherry tree, because it had been Asako's, and no one wanted to cross Grandmother Asako, even if she was dead.

And, eventually, an heir to Wutai was born. She had skin as pale as the palest plum blossom, and eyes the colour of the ocean.

They only turned red when she was very, very angry.

- - -

A/N: And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed reading LM as much as I enjoyed writing it. =) And don't expect a sequel; the fun in this pairing is all in the suspense. ;P Thankyou to everyone who supported me in this fic, even with all the indecision between continuing on from chapter six or not. (I still like the ending it gave. But still, I like annoying Godo, and this made the fun last longer. ) Special mentions go to Wyrren and Shizumaru.

Oh, and everyone leave Iflyte alone, because I think co-incidences are perfectly possible in a flooded fandom like FF7. I don't think my work has been plagiarised, and I'm sure there are dozens of fics that deal with a similar situation. I appreciate the concern, though. :)


End file.
